Saturday, June 16, 2018

BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green at Pitti Uomo

Pitti Uomo wrapped up yesterday in Florence, and while it has been primarily known as a trade show for the fashion industry, the organizers have been adding more and more events and runway shows.

And for this Pitti Uomo, the headline guest designer was Craig Green (previously here). Green has a penchant for cords, ties, and ropes as well as cobbled-together sculptures from scrap wood and fabric that he straps to the fronts or backs of his models. But the near-ecclesiastical sparseness and Zen-simplicity of his garments belies the larger concepts beneath them. He regularly cites the ideas of deconstructing the masculinity of war and conflict, of the juxtaposition of protection and safety (his sculptures often resemble armour or wards) with vulnerability, and of seeking a more spiritual, higher level of functioning in this world.

Made in collaboration with Nike (Green used the high-strength, lightweight material Nike uses for its Flyknit line), the collection was inspired in part by the unsung heroes of our everyday lives. "I’d been looking at cleaners, surgeons, and postmen. They’re the people who have your life in their hands. There was that forgotten savior idea. I liked the idea that people could become angels in their lives by working hard and doing good," said Green. This could explain the cutout silhouettes of people following some of the models. A few of the ensembles resemble not only the simplistic, perhaps monastic garments of the past but also surgical scrubs. But there seems to be a split happening about halfway through the collection with the front halves of ensembles made of the Flyknit material while the back of the garment shifts at the seam into a soft, shimmery, floating statement. The human silhouette flips forward with diagrams of what look like energy lines in the spirit body. These energetic lines dissolve and in their place is an expression of the radiance of pure force from a central point. Green eventually morphs the collection into a transcendent moment with full-length tabards (or blankets!) held together with rope and overprinted with deep, shifting patterns in which one can make out Renaissance angels. Green said, "I thought they looked like a portal, a doorway, an escape to a better place...Sometimes the worst nightmare is reality."

About Me

About "Oh, By The Way"

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.

Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft) and I will be happy to provide a link.

I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain me. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.

All-time Favorite Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)

Amelie

American Beauty (Alan Ball)

Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)

Belle et Bete (Cocteau)

Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)

Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)

Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)

Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)

Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)

Easy Rider

Edward II (Derek Jarman)

Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)

Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)

Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)

Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)

Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)